


Five time Lyonesse protected Lynette and one time Lynette stood up for her

by Arthurian maiden (8Daenerys8)



Category: Arthurian Mythology
Genre: 5 Times, Family Feels, Gen, Sister-Sister Relationship, protective lynette, protective lyonesse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:35:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24106054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/8Daenerys8/pseuds/Arthurian%20maiden
Summary: The first time someone makes fun of them is at dinner. Lynette is talking about Roman Emperors and their failings, her mouth full. The man, a traveler, a guest in their house, looks at her with amused confusion: “I don’t think you should fill your little head with history and war, girl.”Lyonesse calmly lets her half filled cup rest on the table. She turns toward the man: “I don’t think you should fill your mouth with awkward sounds. You won’t fool no one with your gibberish words. And alas, I fear our heads are so full of rationality and intelligence to sadly surpass your mediocre comprehension.”
Relationships: Lynette & Lyonesse
Kudos: 7





	Five time Lyonesse protected Lynette and one time Lynette stood up for her

**Author's Note:**

> This is another story from about five years ago, when I was filling arthurian prompts! I sadly didn't save the prompt, but I think it was something about Lynette and Lyonesse being there for each others, so here it is!

I.

Lyonesse is tall, and dark, and beautiful. Lynette can’t help but look at her and see their grandmother, that noble woman with hands always full of apples, who always made them laugh. Except that Lyonesse never makes her laugh and she is more like the mother they never had, than their grandmother.

“Wash your hands, you know the darkness will catch you if you don’t.”

“Don’t run into the woods. There are dragons.”

“Be careful with strangers, you are a lady not an urchin.”

Their father always nods. “Yes, it’s true, good Lyonesse.” They live with the fragmented teachings of their father and their grandmother, words from peasant women who talk to them in the kitchen, and incredibly badly selected books in the library. Their education is peculiar. They are expert in riding horses because there isn’t much to do in the little castle, and their father is more than glad to treat them like boys. Lyonesse is also incredibly wise in astronomy and ancient religions of the East, having read all the right wing of the library, while Lynette, who has always preferred the left wing, is quite enamored with the meanings of flowers and the art of Roman strategy.

The first time someone makes fun of them is at dinner. Lynette is talking about Roman Emperors and their failings, her mouth full. The man, a traveler, a guest in their house, looks at her with amused confusion: “I don’t think you should fill your little head with history and war, girl.”

Lyonesse calmly lets her half filled cup rest on the table. She turns toward the man: “I don’t think you should fill your mouth with awkward sounds. You won’t fool no one with your gibberish words. And alas, I fear our heads are so full of rationality and intelligence to sadly surpass your mediocre comprehension.”

Lynette is quite young and she has no idea what all those words mean, and she giggles because seeing the severe Lyonesse directing her glare at other people is always fun to watch.

Their father nods satisfied: “Yes, true, good Lyonesse.”

II.

The second time a similar event occurs, Lyonesse simply uses her cup to wash the man’s face.

III.

It doesn’t exactly happen a third time because their new guest, a man from the kingdom of Camelot, can barely open his mouth.

His gaze clearly full of disdain is again directed at Lynette, shocked by her lack of manners in the way she speaks with his brothers, in the way she laughs so openly.

He uses words Lynette is learning for the first time, and Lyonesse goads her dog to attack him.

IV.

Their father doesn’t want them to marry. He isn’t particularly impressed by his seneschal’s disapproving looks. He just doesn’t want his girls to live far away, and leave him alone in the little castle.

Lynette can see that Lyonesse isn’t particularly happy with the situation either. She has a thirst for _more_ , more castles, more things to _see_ , a thirst for love, a new family. She looks at the boys around her and she flirts with them, always with grace and discretion. Lynette knows that many young and charming lords and knights asked for Lyonesse’s hands, and Lyonesse has always refused, her mind always following their father's desires.

Their father never mentions it. Lynette suspects it’s because he knows that why Lyonesse is staying, why she is denying these future opportunities, and he feels guilty and happy at the same time.

Lynette doesn't feel guilt. She needs her big sister with her.

V.

“Do you believe in destiny?” Lynette asks Lyonesse, one day.

Lyonesse snorts.

“I guess that’s a no.” Lynette is twelve years old now, and she is not sure if she believes in magic or destiny. Their education has continued to grow, mostly through the library. Now they are quite well versed in Latin poems, mathematical dilemmas, and the making of swords, at least theoretically. But they have never found anything about magic. Apparently it was not a topic of interest for their late grandfather, the man who has mostly collected the tomes in their library.

“Why such a silly question?”

“No reason.”

Lyonesse puts down the embroidery she is working on. It’s a mess. No one taught them how to work with clothes and linens. “Tell me the reason.”

“Because- I- a woman near the woods told me that my destiny will be-”

“Will be?”

“To marry an awful man and die in childbirth.”

Lyonesse snorts again. She looks out of the window for a minute before taking her resolute eyes on her sister. “Well, don’t believe her. I know everything there is to know on poison and childbirth. I could poison your awful husband before he could even look twice at you.”

+1

Lyonesse is pale. She is still wearing the black dress of mourning, because their father died just two months before.

The knight is still at their door, with his small army, his strong words of false love.

Lynette knows that Lyonesse will accept to marry him. She knows because she _knows_ that Lyonesse feels the weight of the world on her shoulders, especially if that world concerns Lynette.

“I am going to the kitchens,” Lynette tells her sister, and Lyonesse nods, looking out of her window with a worried frown and tired eyes.

Lynette instead looks at her one more time, at her hands, tightening around her crucifix.

Lynette is already dressed to travel, under her cloak, she has a note in her hands and she swiftly leaves it by her sister’s door, when leaving her chambers.

This time, she thinks, this time it’s up to _her_. She is eighteen, and she knows everything about horses and Roman strategy, she knows that her sister will protect her again, one day, but she will not abandon her _now_.

Lynette walks to the old prisons. The castle is very little and it once had a humble dungeon that their father never used, if not to accumulate old things that no one needed anymore. There is a secret passage that goes from the second prison to the entrance, at the woods. It’s not far enough to not be noticed by the knights outside the castle, but Lynette hopes she will be able to run very fast.

Camelot is on her path, she will require the help of the fair king she has heard so much about.


End file.
